Visual aura- what do to

[eharvey8]

Hi everyone- I have never had visual aura before with my migraines and I am having one now and it's kinda spooky and also sad because I hear this means I'm about to get a migraine most likely. Anyone have any tips on what to do to either stop the aura, make it less spooky, or prevent the onset of the migraine?

Also I just started the combined pill birth control and I hear it's really bad to be on that with aura, so I'm stopping it, but anyone ever started that and then had an onset of visual aura?

Thanks!

[bamboo89]

Wow, quite a lot of assumptions packed into your question that need a bit of unpicking! First, sorry you're experiencing visual aura, and yea, they do seem somewhat spooky when you have the first couple. Second, experiencing a visual aura does not necessarily mean you will go on to have your usual full blown migraine attack - there is a form of migraine known as aura migraine (previously known as optical migraine) that 10% of us have which is not connected with the other, more classic form of migraine (terrible headache, sickness and so on). Visual aura may occur entirely on its own with no other noticeable symptoms once its passed, or maybe followed by a mild headache; the manner they take and the route they follow will be personal to you. Certainly this is what I experience - the only time its a major problem is if the aura recurs more than twice in a day, when I used to find I felt really quite unwell afterwards - tired, bit spacy, couldn't think straight. Any more classic migraine (like one sided severe headache) would still occur for me, but not linked with aura. I once had an attack of hemiplegic migraine, but there was no aura at all.

In my case, the visual disturbance attacks lasted around 30-40 minutes, starting in one eye and expanding slowly to fill the whole field of vision (including the other eye) until it moved off out of sight. So when one began, I learnt to notice that I'd got a slight blind spot, then a tiny moving area, and if I was driving, I'd get somewhere off road and wait for it to do its thing, then drive on. I remember once being in the middle of taking shorthand dictation down when one began - I had to call a halt for half an hour and then we carried on. This may not be quite how it is for you... time will tell.

As for making it less spooky or stopping it, you can't - its not really spooky, once you know what it is and the pattern it follows, its just a bit of a nuisance, especially if its not actually a harbinger of your more usual form of migraine. There is no specific treatment for this particular form of migraine, just the usual treatments offered for most forms.

The onset of this particular symptom may or may not be connected with your taking the pill, everyone's triggers are different. I do recall having visual disturbance twice following a cranial osteopathy treatment, but only on those two occasions, and I went to the osteopath every six months for years; I also had one after tripping over and wrenching my neck one day, but otherwise, they did not seem to be connected with anything in particular, although now I think about it, I quite often had one when going rouind the supermarket or shopping (all that looking from side to side, up and down), so I used to think there was maybe some connection with my neck problems. However, In my case, after years of increasing attacks, to the point 18 months ago where I was certainly having at least one a day, I gave up dairy completely for another, entirely separate reason. And to my complete astonishment, the unexpected beneficial side effect of doing that was, I have never had a visual disturbance since, its completely disappeared.

Hope that clarifies things a bit... but if you attend a migraine clinic, you should discuss this with them, or with your GP.

Miriam

[eharvey8 in reply to bamboo89]

Thank you so much! That was so helpful!! I did not end up getting a full blown attack, just a mild headache which was fine by me! Thank you so much for you help!

[md5299 in reply to eharvey8]

I get them as well, frightening when you get your first one but after a while you just enjoy all the different patterns, mine last about 25-30 mins luckily with no headache afterwards, also they have wakened me during the night which seems strange.